Daughters of Fate: The Sacred Prostitutes of India

Abstract

The gender discrimination and exploitation has a very rich history that could be traced back to the dawn of human civilization. In the history of mankind one finds that different and disparate cultures, however distant they may be in time and space have at least one thing in common and that is the disdain of women out of which the evil tradition of Devdasi, the system of “sacred prostitution” – wherein the parents marry a daughter to a deity or a temple found its roots. The presence of sacred prostitution can be found in numerous cultures all over the world, however, it is to be noted that the concept of Devdasi system is not only a system of sexual exploitation but also a mechanism to subjugate, suppress, oppress and exploit the women belonging to the lower castes and untouchable communities. The Factors like religious beliefs, caste system, male domination and economic stress have been recognized as the stimulants behind the growth and perpetuation of this phenomenon. One must refer to the list put forward by the famous Indian scholar Jogan Shankar to understand the evolution of the system. According to him, the following are the reasons which played an important role in the evolution of brutal tradition of Devdasi: 1. as a substitute for human sacrifice. 2. as a rite to ensure the fertility of the land and the increase of human being and animal population. 3. as a part of phallic worship which existed in India from early Dravidian times. 4. As a result of the custom of providing sexual hospitality for strangers. 5. Licentious worship offered by a people, subservient to a degraded and vested interests of privileged Class. 6. And lastly, to create custom in order to exploit lower caste people in India by upper castes and classes. Present Research work systematically examines the Devdasi system to fruitfully serve the purpose of this paper which is to introduce the world with the enigma of Indian soil that tactfully devised the system of socio-sexual exploitation of women…..in the name of GOD.